


Legatee

by everybodylies



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Gen, House returns to PPTH, One Shot, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 14:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everybodylies/pseuds/everybodylies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his faked death, House returns to PPTH to see how Chase has settled in as the new head of Diagnostics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legatee

He's had both offices bugged ever since that case with the drug dealer who turned out to be a cop with an incurable disease, and the guy at the electronics store had offered him a two-for-one deal. House retrieves the headphones and the receiver from the dusty top shelf in the janitor's closet next to his old office and settles down on the floor to listen between several bottles of soap and a mop.

"Steroids aren't working," Chase announces.

"If we don't do something soon, his liver will shut down," says Taub.

House groans, imagines what he would say if he were in the room. Probably something like: "You should know by now how much I hate state-the-obvious contests, but if you insist on playing, Taub, then I will. You have a big nose, and you're balding."

"So we know it's not autoimmune," Chase redirects, his tone much less sharp than House's would have been. " Any other ideas?"

Silence.

Eventually Adams speaks up. "There's nothing else that could be causing all these symptoms. We've ruled all of the possibilities out."

House rolls his eyes. Obviously, they'd missed something. Now, if only he could get his hands on a copy of the patient file…

Chase's sigh fills the headphones. "Alright, if there are no possible explanations, that means one of our assumptions must be wrong. Let's start from the beginning, then, to see where we went awry."

House smiles and closes his eyes as he listens to Chase's convenient recap of the symptoms. The painful throbbing in his leg lessens, just a little.

It comes to him in a flash. The pieces all fit together, and it's a welcome, familiar feeling. Yes… it could be… if you dismissed the hallucinations as a rare side effect of one of the drugs… and you considered the patient's claim that he hadn't left the country in twenty years to be a lie… then…

"Lassa Fever?" Park suggests.

"Endometriosis?" says Taub.

No, no, no. They're wrong. They're all wrong, and the answer's right in front of them. And Chase? What the hell is he doing? It's evident that Chase isn't ready for the job. He's too soft, too slow. Maybe after a few more years of training under the master, the wombat would be almost _half-way_ to competency.

"Lupus?" says Adams, and no, thinks House for the thousandth time, this is the last straw. No, no, no, and he reaches for the mop, uses it for leverage to stand up, his other hand moving for the doorknob. Damn being dead, he's going in there _right now_ and telling them that the patient has-

"Diptheria."

House stops in his tracks.

"Diptheria," Chase repeats, more confidence in his voice this time. "It explains everything."

"But what about the hallucinations?" Their voices are skeptical, but House knows that he's right, that Chase is right.

"A side effect of the meds."

"And where would he have caught it? He hasn't left New Jersey for decades."

"Sometimes people don't tell the truth," Chase says, and everybody hears the echo. 

House steps backward, reminds himself that he's alone in the middle of a dark closet, and says something he would never, ever, say to Chase's face.

"I'm proud of you." 

**Author's Note:**

> To anybody who's wondering: the medicine is completely bogus.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
